Alginate and Collagen Composite for Hard Tissue Generation: A Mini Review

Abstract

The bone regeneration process involves the formation of the regenerative cells, the cell proliferation to produce new tissue and subsequently will repair the fractured area. During regeneration process, the osteoblast cells will secrete several proteins, organic and inorganic components as the base components to form the bone tissues or known as matrix. However, some conditions such as bone tumor removal, massive bone loss injury, extensive infections at the bone, minerals deficiency resulting the failure of bone regeneration and lead to prolonged bone fracture. To overcome this, bone scaffold is implanted or encapsulated bioactive cells are applied at the damaged area to support the bone regeneration. The materials should be osteogenic, osteoconductive and have osteoinductive properties. Natural polymer such as alginate and collagen are often used as biomaterials due to their high biocompatibility, degradability, low toxicity and easy to form a crosslinker with other materials through various method process. Therefore, this review will highlight the properties of alginate and collagen, the fabrication method to form composite and its application in biomedical area.